Nagorno-Karabakh: The
European Kashmir
By Musa Ahmad
Introduction:
With the independence of any
nation comes liberation with
a heavy price which mainly
losing lives or getting
separated from your loved
ones, massive infrastructure
damage, economic loss and
many other factors which can
easily decide the fate of a
newly born state. The 20th
century in particular has
seen countries being torn
apart due to their
ideologies, the major events
which made them happen
include the two World Wars,
Cold Wars & the fall of the
Soviet Union.
Throughout these periods,
the former Yugoslavia broke
into Serbia & Croatia,
leading to a bloody war,
Ethnic tension between
Pakistan & India over the
disputed terrirtory of
Kashmir, same applies for
Israel & Palestine over
Jerusalem, mind games
between the Chinese &
Taiwanese, these are the
nations which have fought
each other over territory
and due to which these
nations have a heavy
diplomatic stance against
each other. Just like them
come the nations of Armenia
& Azerbaijan, fighting over
the self-proclaimed
“Republic of
Nagorno-Karabakh” for
decades, a conflict which
hasn’t been resolved to
date.
The Republic of
Nagorno-Karabakh is one of
four frozen conflicts that
emerged after the collapse
of the Soviet Union. Legally
recognized as a part of
Azerbaijan, it declared
independence in 1991 and
then defended that
independence in a war with
Azerbaijan that lasted until
1994. While it enjoys no
international recognition of
sovereignty,
Nagorno-Karabakh has been de
facto independent since its
declaration and has been
supported militarily and
economically by neighboring
Armenia.
The modern Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic is slightly larger
than the Pakistanicity of
Karachi and has a population
comparable to Gwadar.
However, despite its modest
size and small population,
the mountainous territory
has dominated and distorted
the destinies of both
Azerbaijan and Armenia for
more than two decades. The
conflict also has
potentially wider
geopolitical repercussions
as oil-rich Azerbaijan has
typically been supported by
Turkey and the US, while
Russia has typically favored
Armenia. Armenia supports
Nagorno-Karabakh on the
basis that it is populated
by an Armenian majority that
has declared independence
under the principle of
self-determination.
Thus, although the region
may be little-known outside
of geopolitical circles,
Nagorno-Karabakh’s
unresolved status remains
one of the most potentially
explosive issues in the
volatile Caucasus region
today and could result in a
major conflict among the
world superpowers.
CONFLICT AT GLANCE:
While the name is ancient
and specific reference
unclear, the region can be
well understood through its
name: “Nagorno” is a Russian
term meaning “mountainous,”
while “Karabakh” is an
amalgamation of Turkish and
Persian words that together
mean “black garden.”
Nagorno-Karabakh features
several small, fast-flowing
rivers cutting several deep
ravines through mineral-rich
mountainous country on their
way to a central valley. The
result is a rugged, yet
agriculturally abundant land
– a garden with rich black
soil that is likely to get
as much shade as sun.
Another, political reading
of the name might be as a
beautiful mountain garden
that has provided the
backdrop for dark events.
Nagorno-Karabakh was long
contested by the Ottoman,
Persian, and Russian Empires
as part of the Caucasus
Mountains, which formed a
formidable natural barrier
between those rivals.
Nagorno-Karabakh is of
particular interest as it
represents an overlap in the
declared homelands of two
different peoples: the
Christian Armenians and the
Muslim Azerbaijanis. Under
the nearly perpetual
conquest of the area, one of
these two groups was
generally favored by
whichever side was in power
at the time. This helped
build a centuries-old
animosity between the two
geographically intertwined
peoples.
By the time that Soviet
planners attempted to draw
ethnic republics in the
Caucasus, the region between
Armenia and Azerbaijan was
an irreconcilable mess. Some
compensation was made via a
system of enclaves and
autonomous provinces and the
situation remained
relatively stable while both
republics were part of the
larger and more powerful
Soviet state. When that
state began to crumble,
however, a powerful arbiter
was lost and ethnic tensions
flared into war.
The majority-Armenian
territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh attempted
to declare independence from
Azerbaijan just two months
after Azerbaijan declared
independence from the USSR.
Azerbaijan invaded the
territory and was declared
as an Azerbaijani Territory
in 1991. Armenia joined the
conflict and helped secure
for Nagorno-Karabakh not
only its de facto
independence, but also de
facto expanded borders.
While Soviet
Nagorno-Karabakh was
completely enclosed within
Azerbaijan, Armenia now
effectively controls the
narrow strips of land to the
west and south for it,
giving the unrecognized
state direct borders with
Armenia and Iran. Thus,
Nagorno-Karabakh secured
access to the outside world
and the ability to conduct
limited trade.
Although the tiny state saw
much of its infrastructure
destroyed and its population
flee during the war, it was
quick to rebuild with
substantial assistance from
Armenia and from the
numerous and relatively
wealthy Armenian diaspora
abroad.
When the Soviet Union broke
in 1991, the President of
the Soviet Union, Mikhail
Gorbachev allowed the
region’s simmering ethnic
tensions to be expressed
openly.Demands for greater
cultural, economic, and
linguistic freedom by the
Armenians of
Nagorno-Karabakh escalated
to demands for full
reunification with Armenia
as previously declared in
1988. Ethnic clashes broke
out later that year, with
anti-Armenian riots claiming
the lives of many in the
Azerbaijani cities of Baku
and Sumgait. Isolated
attacks on Azeris occurred
in Nagorno-Karabakh and then
spread to Armenia. Moscow
placed Nagorno-Karabakh
under martial law winter of
1988, but the weakening
state could do little to
reconcile the two factions.
Fighting grew even fiercer
and, by November 1989, the
Soviets resigned the
situation, lifting martial
law without a solid peace
plan in place. The situation
spiraled out of control
after Azerbaijan declared
independence from the USSR
in October 1991, and
Nagorno-Karabakh declared
independence from Azerbaijan
in December 1991. Full-scale
war erupted between
Azerbaijan and Armenia.
An estimated 15,000-20,000
people, including civilians,
were killed during the
fighting and hundreds of
thousands displaced: some
200,000 Armenians left
Azerbaijan; 185,000
Azerbaijanis fled Armenia;
50,000 Azerbaijanis left
Nagorno-Karabakh; and as
many as 500,000-600,000
Azerbaijanis fled
Armenian-occupied
Azerbaijani lands. Thousands
of refugees and displaced
persons still languish in
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Numerous cases of ethnic
cleansing were reported,
such as the Khojaly riots in
February 1992 that claimed
the lives of hundreds of
Azeris.On May 12, 1994,
Azerbaijan and Armenia
signed a ceasefire, but a
treaty was never signed and
status of Nagorno-Karabakh
remains unresolved.
Conclusion:
Dozens of soldiers are
killed along the line of
contact between Azerbaijani
and Armenian forces each
year, and the balance of
power may be tilting back
towards oil-rich Azerbaijan,
which increased defense
spending from $175 million
in 2004 to an estimated $3.1
billion in 2011. Rhetoric on
both sides remains fiercely
militaristic, with
Azerbaijan, for instance,
reacting to plans to rebuild
an airport in
Nagorno-Karabakh by saying
that it would shoot down any
unauthorized aircraft –
including passenger craft –
over its internationally
recognized territory. In
2010, Azerbaijan signed a
mutual assistance pact with
Turkey, its only regional
ally, with also major
alliance with Pakistan & the
US. Meanwhile Armenia has a
major regional support from
Russia and major alliance
with India.
Despite its lack of
international recognition,
the conflict has affected
thousand of lives in the
Caucasian territory, for a
region which has the
potential of becoming a
perfect democratic nation
with an economy relying on
tourism & development. With
proper attention the
Nagorno-Karabakh region can
prove to be a great place
and hopefully peace between
the Armenians & Azerbaijanis
is on the cards.